fullspinzoo

The neo-cons even on the right are having a conniption or a hissy fit. There are 37 Army bases and 34,000 troops. https://www.stripes.com/news/europe/trump-directs-pentagon-to-pull-9-500-troops-from-germany-report-says-1.632622

Smedley_buzkill

Let Merkel and her crew paddle their own damn canoe. Of course, the Liberals will say it's all a plot by Trump to allow Putin to intimidate Germany; the same Germany who claims not to need the US to backstop their ass until, of course, they do.

fullspinzoo

Of course, they're going to say Trump's scratching Putin's back almost as bad as quid pro Joe in Ukraine.

Doc110 Loc: York PA

Why is the USA the worlds police force ?

Think about the political, economic and social manipulation of the communist Chinese.

Which one is more evil. ?

Think about it . . .

lpnmajor Loc: Arkansas

That'll teach those damn Germans.

fullspinzoo

World's police force. Right? I liked it but I think I learned to make the most of it. The culture, the people. Liked it so much stayed for two more years in HDberg. Probably we should just worry about what is going on here, as if we need to take on the world's problems. Somebody said we shouldn't have ever taken away the draft. I think there some valid arguments for that. When your fighting a war, you are on the same team ~ the American team...and that's all that counts. You learn to trust your sidekick or way back, the guy who was in the fox hole. There was no getting uptight about his skin color or who he voted for in the last election or all this bullshit. You had his back and vice versa. That's all that mattered. How things have changed....and not for the better.

Lonewolf

Ooooo Putin will be do happy

kemmer

Trump Directs Pentagon to Pull 9,500 Troops Out of Germany
And all because Chancellor Merkel laughed at Trump's invitation to Putin to attend the G-7.

bahmer

Amen and Amen

TrueAmerican

GOOD !!!!!!

promilitary

Right, they don't need us till they do. (and this is for the dope who said he would kick my ass if he's watching). I did devote four years of my young "prime" years.....17/21 in the Army, three of those years in Germany, and would do it again without hesitation. I was pretty wild when I was a kid, being out on my own at age 15, no adult supervision. Lost my virginity at 15 and never looked back. Had no moral compass, and the girls and women didn't either. Living on my own, I was a target for older women; women old enough to be my mother, a lot of them married. My boss, recognizing that I was on a collision course, took he aside and told me I needed to get my ass in the Army before I found it in front of a judge, or worse, in the county jail. I took his advice and went back later and thanked him for it. Best advice I ever got.

I served with honor and pride; have two Honorable Discharges, in fact. Made sergeant at 19. Grew up fast; I thought I was already grown up but man, did I have a lot to learn. I was good at soldiering; found I liked shooting guns and blowing things up. My biggest regret is, they never found me a war; I never had a chance to test myself. This was a time when we were facing down the Russians, and nobody blinked. We were also still "occupying" German. That wasn't our official mission but there was no other way to frame it.....we were occupying the country we defeated. The German girls loved us....the German guys didn't.

My best buddy and I had a physical confrontation with some German guys one time....we were out for a run along a path in the countryside, it was hot and we were wearing just PT shorts and boots. These German punks blocked our path, ranting about us being in their country; why were we there, just go home, etc. I responded loudly, "We're here to protect your asses from the Russians because you can't do it yourselves, and we're here to make sure YOU DON"T DO IT AGAIN. They knew what I meant by that. They were wearing chains and crap, we saw that one had a knife and one had brass knuckles. Yes, the Nazis were still active; it's illegal now but there is still support for Nazis in Germany. They were brewing for a fight, which was pretty stupid....my buddy and I were into bodybuilding; the two best built guys in our outfit.

I cautioned them....something like, Uuhhh….look at you, look at us, are you sure you wanta do this? Didn't faze them. They went for us. It was a no-brainer; pitiful, actually, that they would go up against two well-trained American soldiers. It was over in about a minute. One guy got tossed in the ditch, stunned him and he came out with what he thought was a broken arm. Another was laid out on the road. The others cowered back and reconsidered. We politely asked for the knife and the brass knuckles. My buddy threw them in a field and I closed the knife.

I don't know if somebody reported the incident or if it was just coincidence that the MPs arrived on the scene. We knew the MPs; they shared our barracks. (We lived in Hitler's old SS barracks). They asked what was going on, and if anyone wanted to press charges; us OR them. If them, it would have to be the German police. It was required that any altercation between US military and German nationals be reported to the civilian and military authorities. The MPs asked them and us if we wanted to file a report. We told him no, it was just a misunderstanding and it was settled. They agreed.

We were there defending the Great Fulda Gap where aggressors came through for hundreds of years. I should say the tank boys were the defenders....I was not in tanks, I was infantry. Infantry always went in, but it
was better to have the tanks as "escorts."


We shall see how this works out for Germany. I don't fully understand how the EU works. Do they have a combined military force from all member countries? I hate to think Trump would allow Putin to move on Germany.